Jane Costello, “Many countries are weighing cash payments to citizens. Could it work in the U.S.?”

Jane Costello, “Many countries are weighing cash payments to citizens. Could it work in the U.S.?”

Jane Costello, Professor of Medical Psychology at Duke University, is a specialist in mental health and child development — and one of the first researchers to study the effects of the Cherokee casino dividend on the mental health of tribe members. In 1996, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina opened a casino and elected to distribute a portion of its revenues equally among all tribe members, paid as a cash subsidy. The payouts began at around only $500 per person per year, but they have risen to as much as $9,000 in 2006.

Costello wrote about the Cherokee’s cash transfer program in an article published in Salon in June, in which she describes her experience in conducting the the study, reviews her main findings (hint: the cash transfers had many positive effects on mental health, especially for children who grew up after the dividend was instituted), and connects her work to the current global movement for basic income:

The notion of universal basic income appears to be gaining steam internationally. So when the issue comes up again – as it will – I hope people will consider the evidence. Our experiment is one such piece of evidence. It has been running in the United States for 20 years, and it strongly suggests that on the whole, universal basic income works.

Jane Costello, “Many countries are weighing cash payments to citizens. Could it work in the U.S.?” Salon, Jun 21, 2016.


Photo of Cherokee, NC (2002) CC Jan Kronsell

John Sutter, “The argument for a basic income”

John Sutter, “The argument for a basic income”

In this CNN Opinion piece, Sutter highlights child poverty as a major issue in America, since even the wealthiest areas like Silicon Valley still see large numbers of children living in poverty; in total, child poverty costs the US $500 billion each year. Sutter then introduces the universal basic income as a possible remedy to the social issues seen in America today and discusses the history of basic income support in US history. To further understand the idea, Sutter visits a town named Cherokee, North Carolina, where each resident receives, essentially, a basic income from the profits of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation’s casino. This tribe owns all of the land in the town and decided to split the casino’s revenue equally among its contributing members, leading to initial dividends of a few hundred dollars but now reaching over $10,000 per citizen per year given biannually.   This policy has led to long-term positive effects for Cherokee citizens in education, health, and poverty alleviation.

John Sutter, “The argument for a basic income”, CNN, 9 March 2015.